what do colleges look for in a college essay

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• What Do Colleges Look For in an Essay? | Examples & Tips

What Do Colleges Look For in an Essay? | Examples & Tips

Published on September 27, 2021 by Meredith Testa . Revised on May 31, 2023.

As part of the college application process , colleges ask prospective students for a personal essay in order to learn more about them. They want to see context on each student’s background, positive traits that the student could bring to campus, and examples of the student demonstrating those qualities.

That means that you, as an applicant, have a great opportunity to make a positive impression on the admissions officers with your essay. You should aim to write an essay that

• Humanizes you
• Makes your application memorable and differentiates you from other applicants
• Demonstrates your unique positive traits

Table of contents

Context: what sets you apart, positive character qualities, proof: show, don’t tell, two strategies for finding your essay’s topic, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Your application will probably be similar to many other students’ applications. There will likely be many students from the same geographical area as you with comparable grades and test scores who have similar interests. Admissions officers will use your essay to see how you stand out from the crowd.

The context that admissions officers are looking for could be anything about you that differentiates you from other students. It could include your ethnic or socioeconomic background, your values, your passions, or anything else that sets you apart from your peers. International students may want to write about why they want to study in the US.

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Of course, it’s important to show your best qualities in the essay. Admissions officers want students who can demonstrate specific positive character traits.

Self-reflection and vulnerability

Self-reflection is a sign of maturity, and it can elevate an application from good to excellent. Colleges already have a list of each applicant’s accomplishments, so a student who can admit their mistakes—and prove that they’ve learned from them—will seem more human and likable.

Some students are hesitant to show their flaws, but keep in mind that colleges know you aren’t perfect. If your essay is just about how fabulous you are, you might come across as inauthentic or, worse, arrogant.

Initiative is one of the top qualities that colleges look for. Students who show initiative will likely bring that take-charge attitude with them to college, where it will help them contribute to the campus.

The essay should always involve you taking some kind of action—it shouldn’t just be about things that happened to you. For example, rather than writing about how it was emotionally difficult for you when several family members caught COVID, write about specific coping strategies you developed during that time or ways that you contributed to the family while they needed you.

“Show, don’t tell” means that you should always aim to prove something rather than just state it. This is especially important to avoid sounding arrogant when writing about yourself . For example, don’t just tell admissions officers that you’re hardworking; show them by detailing how you accomplished a goal through hard work.

So how do you actually write all that? The first step is choosing a good topic . Here are two effective ways to choose a topic that meets expectations and impresses admissions officers.

Option 1: Start with your qualities

One approach is to start by thinking of positive character traits you possess and then finding examples of times you demonstrated those traits.

Option 2: Start with a story

You could also approach your topic selection in the opposite way: start with a story, then work backwards to show how it demonstrates your positive qualities.

• He is independent, as his parents were often preoccupied and couldn’t help him in the same ways that his peers’ parents could.
• He is unflappable, as dealing with emergencies has always been a regular part of his life.
• He is empathetic, as he realizes that some people are going through difficult times that aren’t necessarily obvious to outsiders.

Whatever you choose to write about, your essay should give admissions officers plenty of proof that you’re a desirable candidate. And make sure your essay has a memorable introduction and ends effectively to grab the reader’s attention.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

Colleges want to be able to differentiate students who seem similar on paper. In the college application essay , they’re looking for a way to understand each applicant’s unique personality and experiences.

In your application essay , admissions officers are looking for particular features : they want to see context on your background, positive traits that you could bring to campus, and examples of you demonstrating those qualities.

College application essays are less formal than other kinds of academic writing . Use a conversational yet respectful tone , as if speaking with a teacher or mentor. Be vulnerable about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences to connect with the reader.

Aim to write in your authentic voice , with a style that sounds natural and genuine. You can be creative with your word choice, but don’t use elaborate vocabulary to impress admissions officers.

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What Do Colleges Look for in an Essay? Examples & Tips

What is a College Essay?

The college essay is an essential element of the college application process. It presents an opportunity for students to personalize their college application, beyond grades and scores. It can also be one of the more nerve-wracking parts of the application process. 

If you are reading this article, you are like applying to college and taking the process seriously. The quality of the college you attend will have a big effect on your entire life, and taking a few hours to make your application the best it can possibly be may be the most lucrative time investment you will ever make.

What do colleges look for in an essay from applicants?

So, what do colleges look for in an essay? The answer is similar to what colleges look for in an applicant. To hit the right notes, you need to consider the perspective and even the mission statement of the college, which of course values intelligence, a good work ethic, and the type of personality that will represent the school. 

Therefore, the core aspects that admissions officials at any institution look for in an essay are:

·         Intelligence

·         Strong communication skills

·         Ambition and goals

·         Creativity

·         Proactivity and self-direction

·         Interest in education and self-betterment

These elements are not based on any abstract moral consideration–colleges want students who will make their institution stronger. They will look for evidence of these traits in your personal essay, as grades only reflect a few of these core aspects and abilities. 

Beyond these considerations, remember that an admissions officer (an actual human being) will read your essay and respond to it both rationally and emotionally. In many cases, that emotion is boredom. Keep in mind that these officials read hundreds of application essays each admissions season. But if your essay can successfully win them over, then you’ll be getting a letter that begins with a “We are delighted to announce…”

Qualities Colleges Look for to Include in Your Essay

Most achievements that colleges are looking for will be reflected in your college application, and therefore, these have been left off of the list below. The achievements showing your passion and drive, as well as your internal and external motivations, will be the ones to include in your application essay. 

Challenging extracurricular activities

Colleges want to see students who stretch themselves beyond the limits of the classroom. The kinds of activities you choose say a lot about your personality and even your morals. Whether or not you stick with your chosen undertakings exhibits your ability to commit to important projects in the long term.

Volunteer and work experience

Any experience you have that shows true commitment, leadership qualities and an interest in community is beneficial to your application. Include the organizations or companies you worked for and what your responsibilities were at each one. If you received any promotions or special recognitions, be sure to mention those as well.

Talents and passions

More colleges are moving away from accepting students who did the most “stuff” to looking for those who focus their energy in specific areas that they’re passionate about. Schools want to see what makes you special and how hard you’re willing to work at the things you care about.

Obstacles or challenges you have overcome

One of the most important aspects of a good college student is their ability to learn from mistakes and overcome challenges in order to achieve success. This is especially true for Common App Essay prompts . In your essay, focus on what exact difficulties or challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learned from this experience. After all, admissions officials are more impressed by a student who came from an adverse situation and still achieved success than they are with a student who had every advantage handed to them and skated by on position and intelligence.

What is a well-written essay?

Admissions officers read a lot of essays, and a well-written one can make a refreshing change. Students should check their essays to make sure they clearly meet these criteria:

• Does the essay provide a direct answer to the essay question?
• Does it have a strong opening paragraph that captures the reader’s interest?
• Does it put forth a comprehensive argument or narrative? Does the student make a point and stick to it?
• Does it have a natural style that’s comfortable for the student and appropriate for the subject matter?
• Did the student use effective word choice, syntax, and structure?
• Does it contain correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling?
• Is it succinct? Did the student pay attention to the recommended length?

How to Write About Positive Qualities in an Application Essay

The rule of thumb here is always “Show–don’t tell.” When writing a college essay, skip generalized information. Instead, provide real, specific examples to support your statements. Your attention to detail will help make you more memorable to an admissions officer who has to read hundreds, if not thousands, of essays. 

For example, instead of “I love hiking,” you could say, “After reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, I decided my next adventure would be climbing Mt. Everest.” What’s the difference between these two sentences? The first says you like something, while the second one illustrates that you do—but not only that, it also shows your level of commitment and your desire for challenge. Of the two example sentences, which do you think maximizes your use of words and would be more interesting to admissions officers?

Bad example: Claim without proof My teacher once told me that I was the most skilled and intelligent student she’s ever taught, and I believed her. When I set a goal, there’s no stopping me. I’ll work at it until it’s achieved—even if it’s to my own detriment.

Good example: Showing with concrete evidence In sophomore year, I decided to set a goal to raise more money for Relay for Life than any other student involved. I asked my neighbors, family, teachers, and even my paster, who sat through my 20-minute prepared speech about why donating to this campaign would be the best use of his money. I spoke to community groups. I did three straight weekends of door-to-door fundraising. And in the end, my efforts paid off—I succeeded in raising over $500 more than any other student.

Showing initiative and ambition

Initiative and ambition are top qualities that colleges look for in an applicant. Students who exhibit these traits will bring a positive and driven attitude with them to college, where it will help them contribute to the campus and succeed in their academic endeavors.

The college essay should always show how you took some kind of action—it shouldn’t just include things that happened to you as a passive individual. For example, rather than simply writing about how it was emotionally difficult when your older sibling got sick, discuss specific coping strategies you developed during that time or ways that you contributed to helping your sibling and family.

Showing self-reflection and growth

Personal growth is one of the most popular topics to write about since it represents what the admissions essay is all about: helping the college gain better insight into your personality and character. Some schools ask targeted questions — “What was the most challenging event you have ever faced, and how have you grown from it?” — while others leave the topic open: “Describe an event that has had great meaning for you. Explain why and how it has affected you.”

One of the most successful strategies is to use a past event as a lens through which you can assess who you were and the person you became, how you have grown and changed, and your transformation. Most children are curious, but were you the one who asked your teacher what caused the change of seasons of the year and then created a solar system model and explained the concept to your classmates? Though you may think that your topic needs to be bold and unique, this is not necessary to craft an effective essay. Instead, success lies in painting an accurate and vivid picture of yourself — one that will show admissions officers that you have much to offer their school.

Structure your essay with a clear beginning, middle, and end

When you include the basic plot elements of setting, introduction, conflict, and resolution, not only will your essay be more fun to read, it will be easier to write. And when writing is easier, you are usually having more fun and pouring more of yourself into your writing. You will find that this often translates into a more compelling story as well since passion and interest are hallmarks of any good story told to a friend or included on the page of an adventure or romance novel. When structuring your narrative arc, include the lessons you have learned from these experiences: How did you change? What did you learn? What did/do you plan to do differently because of these experiences? Anyone can write about how they won first place in a competition or spent a fantastic vacation in Europe. The important stuff is not in the itinerary, but rather in the diary–what you learned from the experience and how it impacted you.

Essay Introduction #1: Focus on Your Personal Qualities

One approach when beginning your application essay is to start by describing positive character traits you possess and then showing examples of times you demonstrated those traits.

Starting with your qualities A student wants to show that he is determined and tenacious. He thinks about times when he went above and beyond what was necessary to succeed in high school. He thinks of how he became the only student at his school to participate in three or more AP classes while also being involved in multiple sports and extracurricular activities. He also thinks of his volunteer work with his church at a local homeless shelter, where he made friends and connections with shelter guests and high-profile members of the community. These are the qualities around which his essay is focused.

Essay Introduction #2: Focus on a Personal Story

Another way to approach your essay topic is to start with a story and then work show examples that demonstrative your positive qualities.

Starting with a story A student’s sibling has been fighting cancer for the past three years, and he feels that this is an important experience that has shaped who he is today. He considers how the difficulties of this experience have changed him and help distinguish him from other applicants. 

From introducing his story at the beginning of his essay, this applicant can tie in the positive qualities he exhibits with the finer details of his personal story: 

• He is independent, as he needed to deal with taking care of a loved one in a serious and sustained way that his peers did not need to deal with.
• He is focused, as dealing with regular medical emergencies has not deterred him from achieving good grades and being part of his community.
• He is empathetic, as he understands personally how hard times can impact people.

Whatever essay topic you choose, your essay should provide admissions officers concrete evidence that you are an ideal candidate for their school. Your essay should have a memorable introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and guides the rest of your essay.

Repeat Your Qualities in the Essay Conclusion

Although your essay introduction is crucial in starting your essay off in a clear and impactful direction, how you end your essay is also important as it is the last thing that will remain in the reader’s mind. One surefire way to write a strong essay conclusion is to repeat the important qualities you discussed earlier. Recall details about your personal story or repeat the qualities you introduced at the beginning of the essay. Here is an example of what a good conclusion can capture what colleges are looking for in an essay: 

Concluding your essay by repeating your qualities During my high school years, my qualities of leadership, initiative, and hard work have help shape me to become the strong student I am today. As the head of our school’s volunteer group, I showed that even a teenager can make a big impact. As a student achieving high grades in all three of my AP courses, I demonstrated my dedication to education about all. Finally, as a daughter of working-class immigrant parents, I have used my value of hard work to achieve things my parents never thought possible. These values have contributed to making me the conscientious and successful student and person I am now, and they will surely continue to assist and guide me in my academic and professional career.

Interesting Essay Topics to Write About

There are hundreds of resources available online about writing college essays (including How to Write the Common App Essay ). And while you can find dozens of interesting and fruitful essay topics that have worked, here are just a few more that are not too specific and can be molded to fit your unique profile and personal story. 

1. A unique extracurricular activity or passion 

2. An activity or interest that contrasts heavily with your profile

3. A seemingly insignificant moment that speaks to larger themes within your life 

4. Using an everyday experience or object as a metaphor to explore your life and personality 

5. An in-the-moment narrative that tells the story of an important moment in your life

Additional Tips for Writing an Essay Colleges Will Love

Choose a strong essay topic.

First, whichever structure you will use, you need to ask yourself what you actually want to accomplish in life (esp. in terms of career) . This gives you your goals. You need to choose a program that helps you reach these goals—otherwise, you should seriously reconsider whether you should even be applying!  

If you are using the “Story” structure…

The story is going to be your topic, so make it an engaging tale… but remember you are not here to show that you are the next Shakespeare. There are three ways to go here: a story/description about yourself that shaped who you are and shows who you are. A story/description of something completely different that inspires you or is a metaphor for who you are.

If you are using the “Conveying passion for a subject” structure…

In this case, you have your topic (the subject you are passionate about), but remember the essay should be about what it means to you (don’t get bogged down in describing the subject itself). Use each subsequent paragraph to illustrate how you show passion for the subject or topic you have chosen. Be sure to use concrete details within the paragraph, but begin each paragraph with a “mini-thesis statement” that gives the reader a clear and concise summary of how you demonstrate your passion in a particular way.

Engage the Reader with Your Essay’s Narrative

The admissions officer will not be interested in a mere list of your personal qualities, extracurriculars, or accomplishments. This information is included elsewhere in your application. Instead, focus on showing who you are in your essay through a narrative that includes concrete details. 

But how can you plan the topics included in your narrative essay? First, grab a pen and jot down important experiences that spring to mind. Your experience could be something negative that eventually turns out to be positive or vice-versa. The most intriguing part of a negative experience is how you handled it and, hopefully, came out on top. Give your reader a setting to help them feel like they’re a part of your story and experience this moment of change with you.

Focus on what you care about most

Consider this a kind of brainstorming exercise. Close your eyes and imagine what drives you, motivates you, excites you, and inspires you to pursue great things (or at least fantasize about doing them). This might include a hobby, a genre of music, an important person in your life, a pivotal memory or experience, a book—anything meaningful that you consider part of your identity or that defines you. 

Start by listing these items and creating a word web of other relevant or secondary aspects of this one idea, person, object, or experience. Write some brief sentences about exactly why it is important to you. Once you have your list and a few sentences written, it should be a bit easier to narrow your topic to just one or two things at most.

Essay Editing for College Application Essays

One thing all schools look for in an essay is a document that is free of errors in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and style. Admissions essay editing services are ideal for international students who struggle with English or simply want to take their essays to the next level. Students should take care to choose a company that’s reputable and employs highly qualified editors .

Check out Wordvice’s array of professional English editing services and proofreading services , including essay editing services, to learn how our editors can improve your essays and help you get into your dream school.

Character Counts: What Are Colleges Looking For?

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What Character Traits Do Colleges Look For?

What do colleges look for besides grades when they read your application? They take into account more than your GPA and test scores. Your character and the personal qualities you can bring to a college are important, too. That's why you need to think about your goals, accomplishments, and personal values. Then, you can figure out how you can best express those in your applications.

Top Character Qualities Colleges Want

"What is it that makes you unique, and how will you contribute to the life of our campus?" That's the answer to what do colleges look for in essays, according to Earl Johnson of the University of Tulsa. University applicants who demonstrate the following qualities of a good college student have more to contribute to a school:

• Willingness to take risks
• Sense of social responsibility
• Commitment to service
• Special talents or abilities

Overall, colleges want a mix of students to create a rich campus community. They want the class valedictorians, says Marty O'Connell, executive director of Colleges That Change Lives. However, they also are looking for "students who are going to be involved in a lot of activities, and students who are musicians, and students who are athletes, and everything in between."

Your College Application Shows Your Personality Traits

So how do you show colleges what's special about you? The positive characteristics of college students are not easy to measure. Nonetheless, admission officers look at the items listed below for clues about what makes you unique.

Extracurricular activities : What you do outside the classroom reveals a lot about you. That’s why some applications ask for details about extracurricular activities . But remember, it's not the number of activities that counts. Then, what do admission officers look for? It's more about what you've learned and how you've grown from participating in these activities.

Summer jobs and activities : Your summer experiences provide insight into your character. Holding a summer job at a fast-food restaurant can build as much character as attending a prestigious summer learning program . Even staying at home to help out with babysitting or household chores like cooking for the family shows character. It's all about what you've gained, what you've learned and how you communicate that.

College essay : The college essay gives you the opportunity to show the admission officers who you are and how you will contribute to the college campus. What are admission officers looking for in a college essay? Creativity, self-awareness, and a good command of grammar top the list.

Mike Sexton, vice president for enrollment management at Santa Clara University, says that when admission officers read student essays, they ask themselves, "Would you like this person to be your roommate? Would you like to work on a group project with this person?" The essay can reveal the answers to these questions more than any test score can.

Letters of recommendation : Recommendation letters can tell a lot about the kind of person you are. A teacher who knows you well can give insight into your leadership ability or your collaborative approach to team projects. A school counselor or administrator can also offer valuable information about your service to the school community.

What characteristics are important to colleges?

Admissions officers are looking for academic excellence and character strength. When you look at a list of characteristics of college students, you probably recognize many of them in yourself. Colleges are looking for leaders who are compassionate and caring about others. They want innovators who are passionate about their pursuits and willing to take risks. So, what do admissions officers look for? They want students who have clear goals and can demonstrate that they can achieve them.

What kind of students do colleges want?

Colleges are looking for students who will succeed academically, be involved, and use their talents to help others. When college admissions specialists review your application, they are asking themselves, "What qualities best describe this applicant?" It's your job to give them the clues they need to make a favorable decision.   

How can I stand out to colleges?

The essay you write as part of the application process is one of your best chances to stand out. What do college admissions look for in an essay? Reveal your passions, talents, and character with a well-written essay. Ideally, your college essay will illustrate a project or situation that contributed to your personal growth. Many applicants find that taking the time to write a thoughtful essay also helps them figure out what to look for in a college they have been considering. 

When they review your application, admissions officials will also look closely at your extracurricular activities and what you did with your time during summer breaks. They are seeking evidence that your presence will positively impact the campus community. 

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, what do colleges look for in application essays.

Alright, so I’m at the point where I'm ready to tackle my college essays, and I'm trying to figure out what exactly colleges are hoping to see in them. Do they want creativity, a demonstration of skills, personal growth stories? If anyone's got some insider knowledge or tips on what makes the admissions officers' hearts tick, I'm all ears!

Application essays are your chance to speak directly to the admissions committee. They're looking beyond grades and scores for a sense of who you are and how you'd fit into their community. They do value creativity, but authenticity and self-reflection are even more crucial. They want to see how you've grown or handled challenges, sure, but they also appreciate when you can make connections between your experiences and your future aspirations. They look for an engaging narrative that provides insight into your character and values.

Just remember, an effective essay is one that only you could have written—it showcases your unique voice and perspective. Keep your writing focused; rather than attempting to cover too many topics, explore one aspect of yourself in depth. And don't underestimate the power of a well-structured story with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Lastly, essays without grammatical errors are a given, but also aim for fluency and readability. Taking a risk with an unconventional format or topic can pay off when done well, but clarity should never be sacrificed for the sake of novelty.

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10 Skills to Highlight on Your College Applications

What’s covered:, what are colleges looking for, and why.

• Key Skills to Emphasize on Your College Apps

How to Highlight Your Strengths In Your College Application

How to show your skills in your college essays.

As part of their holistic review of your application, colleges want to consider your personality and character alongside your grades and extracurriculars. Skills like these can’t always be quantified in the same way as your grades can; nevertheless, they can help determine whether you’ll be able to flourish in a college environment. While top colleges certainly do want students who have a track record of academic success, they’re also interested in bringing in students who have qualities that will allow them to use their academic skills to do great things on campus and throughout their lives.

Highlighting these so-called ‘intangibles’ may seem less important than a stellar academic record and impressive list of extracurriculars, but they can be a powerful way to make your application stand out from the crowd, and present you as a strong and self-aware candidate. In this post, we’ll go over ten skills that deserve starring roles in your college applications, and why demonstrating these skills helps to show that you’re a qualified applicant for your colleges of choice.

Colleges want to know who you are beyond your grades and your activities. A college isn’t just a place where you go to school — it’s also where you work, socialize, build communities, and live your life for four years. Similarly, you don’t attend college alone, so how you interact with the people around you is important, whether they’re peers, instructors, or others. Each college has a different culture and different priorities, so looking around on your school’s website and examining what their particular values might be can help you personalize your application for that institution. 

You’ll also need to demonstrate that you have the potential to grow by making full use of the college’s resources. Obviously, colleges aren’t looking for students whose hard work and high performance are limited to their high school years. They’re interested not only in your past, but in your future, and whether you’re likely to become a student whose presence will enrich the campus environment.

10 Key Skills to Emphasize on Your College Apps

It’s clear that colleges are looking for more than high scores and lists of awards when they evaluate applicants, but you may be wondering what particular qualities will impress admissions committees. Here are ten specific skills that can help you to stand out as a strong candidate when it comes time for you to apply to colleges.

1. Commitment

Commitment is important to colleges because it’s a key ingredient to success both in and outside the classroom. Showing commitment means following through on obligations, maintaining focus and effort, and engaging with academics and activities in deep and lasting ways. These are all attractive attributes that will help colleges see you as a person who can add to a college environment throughout the four years that you’re on campus. One of the best ways to show commitment in an application is through an activity or subject that you’ve put significant time and effort into. Demonstrating your involvement with the drama club all four years of high school or your personal decision to take four years of language classes when your school only requires two proves to admissions officers you stick with things and follow through.

If you don’t have an activity or academic effort that you’ve put significant time and effort into, that doesn’t mean that you can’t show commitment in your application. Consider mentioning in your essay a time that it took particular effort, will, or sacrifice to participate in or remain involved with an extracurricular or academic activity. This can be another way of showing commitment without the months or years of participation. So, commitment can look like playing on the Frisbee team for two years, but it could also be a story about a time you gave up going on a weekend trip so that you could focus on finishing a presentation. 

2. Creativity

At its heart, demonstrating your creativity means showing that you’re able to think outside the box (to use a particularly uncreative metaphor) and come up with new concepts, approaches, and interpretations. Creativity can be expressed in your involvement with the arts, of course, but it’s also a quality that can show up in many different situations, from technical innovation to problem solving, in any field.

When colleges consider your application, your creativity is a quality that can really set you apart as an individual—and suggest your great potential to have an impact on the world. Whether you’re making a breakthrough argument in an academic paper, resolving an issue for an extracurricular group, or dreaming of your future startup, this skill will definitely come in handy as you plot your future.

What does creativity look like on a college application? As we mentioned above, the good news is that you don’t need to be an artist to show it. Talking about a creative hobby, like writing, painting, or singing is one clear way of showing creativity, but creative problem-solving or a unique approach to accomplishing tasks can make your point just as clearly. Maybe you didn’t participate in the school play, but you sold bouquets outside of it to raise money for your sports team. This would certainly stand out to admissions officers as an expression of your innovative thinking. Creativity could also look like combining lines of code to try out a new feature on the app you built.

3. Critical Thinking

For most students, the college academic experience will be much different from that of high school. One of the biggest differences is that in college, you’ll be expected to not only absorb and integrate factual information, but also to think more critically about sources, perspectives, contexts, and intellectual frameworks you encounter—including the assumptions you hold yourself.

When colleges evaluate applicants, they’re considering in part whether those applicants will be able to handle the demands of college coursework. Demonstrating that you’re able to investigate and interrogate academic material in a sophisticated way will speak highly of your academic skill, maturity, and potential. This can look like self-reflection or thoughtfulness about any number of topics. The important thing is that you show that you’re able to consider information and evaluate it without automatically accepting it. 

When it comes to highlighting critical thinking in your application, our recommendation would be to focus on your essays. Essays that demonstrate critical thinking tend to be focused on times when your mind, or someone else’s mind, was changed, or you learned something new that altered your view of a situation. One example that we’ve seen that was particularly effective was a student who wrote about what happened when she and her best friend had radically different opinions on gun control. Her essay evaluated how they each arrived at their position, and how two people with similar values could believe such different things about this critical issue. 

4. Initiative

Coming up with brilliant, creative ideas is a great thing, but it’s only half the battle. In order to have an impact, no matter what scale you’re acting upon, you also need to be able to turn those ideas into realities. Your skill in getting projects that matter to you off the ground will reflect well on you when it’s time to apply to colleges.

Colleges always like to see applicants who have not only taken advantage of available opportunities, but also put extra effort into creating viable opportunities where none seemed to exist. Your proven initiative can show that you not only have great ideas, but also the practical skills to back them up. Maybe you started a fundraiser at your school for a new community center, or improved your Chinese grade by asking your teacher for extra material to study on the weekends. Prove initiative on your college applications by talking about projects that you’ve begun and led, the drive that led you to go beyond what was asked of you, or original ideas that sparked something bigger than yourself. 

It’s a good idea to highlight your initiative in the descriptions of your extracurriculars (for example, to describe your position as president of the Model UN team say “organized and hosted a one-day conference for local Model UN teams in the county”). For activities where you showed really large initiative, consider writing about that in a personal statement or supplemental essay.

5. Intellectual Curiosity

When it comes to academic performance, colleges aren’t just interested in your grades and test scores. They also want to know that you’re genuinely invested in your intellectual development and that you actively enjoy the experience of investigating the world around you. Many colleges use the phrase “a love of learning” to express the quality that they’re looking for in applicants.

Demonstrating this love of learning communicates to colleges that whatever you choose to study, you can be counted upon to continue seeking knowledge and understanding in your academic work. After all, the main purpose of going to college is to get an education, and by showing your intellectual curiosity, you’re telling colleges that you’ll take that educational opportunity seriously.

In the past, applicants have talked about reaching out to authors they love just to see if they’ll respond, writing articles that were published in local newspapers, conducting independent research on a topic they are infatuated by, or volunteering with museums to learn more about a subject or topic they loved. Do any of these stories sound like you? How has intellectual curiosity shown up in your life?

6. Good Judgment

Showing good judgment means demonstrating to colleges that you’re able to plan ahead, understand and accept consequences, and make choices that support your goals. It also means showing that you’re responsible and respectful in the way you handle the college application process.

It’s important to minimize talking about bad judgment in your application. What may be a funny story to share with friends may not paint you in the best light to an admissions committee. This doesn’t mean that an instance of bad judgment is a death sentence, though. If you have a disciplinary record, or something negative on your application, it’s best to be straightforward and honest. Our post about explaining exceptional personal circumstances can help you write about incidents of poor judgment in a way that is truthful and clear, but also focuses on the ways that you have learned and grown from this moment. 

How can you show good judgment? This one is more commonly assumed when there is no evidence to contradict it, but you can still emphasize it in your application by talking about times that you made the right choice when easier options were available. This can be a tough line to walk, as talking about the temptation to cheat, lie, or otherwise exercise bad judgment is not a good idea, even if you made the right choice in the end. Instead, we recommend focusing on stories of times that you went the extra mile to demonstrate strength of character, when the easier option might’ve been to let someone else deal with the situation. Maybe you tutored a peer or a younger sibling that was struggling. Maybe you chose editing that English paper instead of accepting a last minute concert invite. The best part of demonstrating good judgment is that usually, other qualities shine alongside it, like in these two examples, where generosity of spirit and commitment to academics are folded in with good judgment. 

7. Leadership

Leadership skills can encompass your ability to plan and oversee projects, your capability to provide substantive praise and criticism, and your power to inspire others and help them achieve their goals. Being a good leader doesn’t mean taking on all the work yourself; effectively delegating tasks and recognizing others’ useful talents are key skills as well.

Of course, one way to demonstrate your leadership ability is to have taken on leadership roles in your extracurricular activities. If you’re the captain of a team or leader of a club, this is absolutely worth emphasizing. However, how well you do as a leader matters just as much as whether you can get elected or selected for one of these positions. If you can demonstrate that you were a truly effective leader, that may really help you to stand out among the applicant pool. Something as seemingly small as taking the leading role in a group project can demonstrate leadership skill, as long as you write effectively about the ways in which you were able to guide your team to success. 

8. Open-Mindedness

One of the best aspects of attending college is that it introduces you to new things. Between the individuals you interact with and the contents of your courses, you’ll encounter an incredible and diverse range of people, ideas, and perspectives on campus, and many of these will likely be unfamiliar to you.

Being open-minded doesn’t mean that you have to agree with every new idea you encounter. What it does mean is that you’re willing and able to respectfully consider and interact with the full range of perspectives that you’ll be exposed to in college, and to appreciate the richness of that experience. 

You can talk about open-mindedness directly, by exploring times that you encountered ideas, beliefs, or experiences that were different from your own, or you can talk about it more broadly, by focusing on a particularly diverse environment you found yourself in and how that place positively affected you. The key to highlighting your open-mindedness is to write an essay appreciating the importance of diversity . 

9. Social Consciousness

Being socially conscious means you’re aware of issues and concerns that stretch beyond your immediate surroundings and into the lives of others, both on a global level and within the communities of which you’re a part. This knowledge will inform both the way you understand your academic work and the way you live. Competitive colleges will want to see that you’ve spent time thinking about issues like these.

In addition to mere awareness, colleges want to know that you’re working on having an effect on the world beyond yourself. There are many ways to do this; you don’t need to win a Nobel Prize or be elected president to be doing important work. What’s most important is that your goals involve some kind of larger impact. Consider writing about what causes inspire you, and why. Maybe your passion is biodiversity, and you want to talk about the impact that rare moth extinction will have on the environment. This may sound small, or overly specific, but that doesn’t matter. The key is to show that you are knowledgeable about and passionate about things outside of yourself. 

Another way to highlight social consciousness could be through your extracurriculars or awards and recognitions. If you’ve gotten involved in an extracurricular activity because it addresses a global issue you care about, make sure to highlight that activity and the actions you’ve taken on your application. Some students might have even earned awards for their dedication to humanitarian work which is another great thing to highlight.

10. Teamwork

While your individual accomplishments and qualities are of the highest importance when applying to colleges, your ability to work with others shouldn’t be glossed over. In the classroom and outside of it, you’ll never be truly alone in college, so it’s important that you know how to interact and collaborate with your peers effectively.

Group projects still exist in college, and most extracurricular activities are community-based. Internships, working in a scientific lab, and many other activities will likely involve working with others on a task that’s not your own — that’s often how people gain the skills and experience to later become innovators and leaders. Sometimes, this requires putting the needs of the group or a decision you may not agree with over your individual needs and ideas.

No matter what field you eventually enter, collaboration is everywhere, and great things come from embracing it. Colleges need to be sure that your individual skills are paired with the ability to work well with others and, when necessary, prioritize the team’s success over your own. One example that stands out from past essays is a student who played for the opposing team in a rec league kickball game. The other team was down a player, and was going to have to forfeit, meaning no one got to play. This student joining the other team gave everyone a chance to play and enjoy the game, even though it wouldn’t officially count. The student was able to showcase his ability to meld seamlessly onto a new team, learning new skills and strategies along the way. 

The best place to highlight your more subjective traits and abilities are your essays, and along with assessing your writing abilities, this is what they’re designed for. Make sure that in choosing anecdotes and topics for your essays, you’re selecting stories that showcase the best of your qualities. This can be a powerful way of showing without explicitly telling admissions teams about these traits.

Along with your essays, an interview can be a great place to demonstrate these qualities. Not every school offers an interview, but if they do, and you are able to participate, this is another opportunity where your intangible traits can shine. As you prepare for your interview, along with going over common questions and answers, consider what impression you want your interviewer to have of you. What aspects of your personality do you want to shine in this interview, and how can you make sure they do?

Finally, your recommendations are another place where colleges can learn about your personal qualities. If you have a quality that you want to make sure colleges hear about, consider talking to your recommenders about what you hope they’ll highlight in their letters. Remember to choose qualities that that recommender has seen you demonstrate and can talk about specifically.  

Your essays are a great place to showcase your intangible skills and abilities. You can share these skills through the stories you tell.

After rereading your essays countless times, however, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. You can even request that your reviewer focus on helping you highlight a particular trait or two. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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The Morning

Baruch college, an upward-mobility machine.

The New York school is praised as a model college in a new report on diversity in higher education.

By David Leonhardt

City College of New York often serves as a nostalgic symbol of American higher education’s past. The college did not charge tuition for decades, and its students, many of them poor, went on to become Nobel laureates, chief executives, civil rights leaders and more. By contrast, higher education today can seem both less accessible and less rigorous.

But it turns out that the school that occupies City College’s original 19th-century campus, on the East Side of Manhattan, has done a fine job of living up to its predecessor’s legacy.

That school is Baruch College, and it is an upward-mobility machine.

More than 60 percent of Baruch students receive Pell grants, which means they typically come from the bottom half of the income distribution. About 75 percent of undergraduates are people of color. The average annual cost of attending Baruch for low-income students is less than $2,000. And Baruch’s six-year graduation rate is 74 percent, well above the national average.

When I asked S. David Wu, an engineering scholar who is Baruch’s president, about City College’s original vision of educating the masses, he told me, “In many ways, Baruch is realizing that vision, but in a 21st-century way.”

In today’s newsletter, I’ll tell you about a new report that tracks how other colleges are doing.

A worrisome decline

After Michael Bloomberg finished being mayor of New York City in 2013, he turned his attention to philanthropy and decided that increasing economic diversity in higher education was a priority. “America needs to have as big a pool of talented, hard-working, well-educated people as it can possibly get,” Bloomberg told me.

His main program is known as the American Talent Initiative, and its goal is to persuade colleges with high graduation rates to diversify. This morning, the group released its latest report , and it praises Baruch as a model college.

“There are very few colleges in the country like Baruch,” said Josh Wyner of the Aspen Institute, which helps run the American Talent Initiative. Indeed, among all U.S. colleges with a graduation rate above 70 percent, Baruch may be the most economically diverse. It both holds down tuition costs and creates clear pathways for students to earn degrees, Wyner said.

Other parts of the new report, however, are worrisome.

Bloomberg’s group set a goal almost a decade ago: Lift the annual enrollment of low- and moderate-income students at colleges with high graduation rates by 50,000 — or roughly 10 percent. The group planned to do so partly by building a membership organization where colleges could share strategies.

Initially, the progress was impressive. Enrollment jumped by more than 20,000 in the initiative’s first three years, putting it comfortably on pace to achieve the goal within a decade.

But momentum stalled in 2019-20. The reasons weren’t completely clear, but I’ve noticed that economic diversity often declines when college administrators aren’t paying close attention. Other priorities — sports teams, fund-raising, U.S. News’s rankings — take over. Covid made the situation worse, by exacerbating K-12 inequality and preventing some lower-income students from making it to college.

By fall 2021, all the early progress had been erased. Enrollment of lower-income students at colleges with high graduation rates was slightly below its 2015 level.

In response, the initiative got tougher. To remain members, college now must commit to specific lower-income enrollment levels, rather than vaguely promising to make progress. A small number of colleges have since dropped out. Among them, according to public records, were Penn State and Virginia Tech, as well as several private schools, including Wake Forest, which is among the country’s least economically diverse colleges, and Denison, in Ohio.

( This Times feature lets you look up economic diversity at nearly 300 colleges.)

But 125 colleges remained, including the entire Ivy League and the flagship state universities in California, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin. About 15 schools more have recently joined. Baruch is among them, as are Colorado College, Illinois State and Towson.

At these member schools, lower-income enrollment has fully recovered from its recent decline. Updated data isn’t available for the roughly 200 other colleges with a graduation rate of at least 70 percent, but their trend is unlikely to be so positive:

Successful strategies

The new report cities several promising strategies for lifting diversity, such as:

Reduce so-called merit aid , which tends to go to affluent students, and direct scholarships to students who demonstrate both academic excellence and financial need. Boston University has recently done so.

Recruit more transfers from community colleges , where top students from modest backgrounds often start . Central Florida, Dayton, George Mason and the University of California all emphasize community-college transfers, and Princeton recently started a program.

Help students navigate higher education . Its bureaucracy can be so maddening that it keeps students from graduating. In response, Baruch has created an office called BOSS — Baruch One Stop Shop — where students can get help enrolling in classes or filling out aid forms. The college has also created cohorts of first-year students who take classes together and can help one another.

Baruch’s mission, Wu told me, is to educate a student body that resembles society at large — and increase upward mobility as a result. “Our diversity,” he said, “very much reflects the diversity of New York.”

Some colleges will soon charge $100,000 a year. My colleague Ron Lieber explains how it happened.

President Biden will announce student debt relief for millions of borrowers in a Wisconsin speech.

THE LATEST NEWS

Israel-hamas war.

The Israeli military has reduced the number of troops in Gaza. Only a fraction of the soldiers that it deployed to the enclave earlier in the war remain.

Despite the drawdown of troops, the military has promised a future mission in Rafah , southern Gaza.

The war reached the six-month mark with the conflict at an impasse.

Nicaragua, a supporter of Palestine, is bringing a case against Germany at the International Court of Justice for supplying arms to Israel.

War in Ukraine

Some Ukrainians, unable or unwilling to leave home, remain in villages on the front lines. See photos .

Donald Trump has a secret, long-shot plan to end the war by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, The Washington Post reports.

“I am still learning how to forgive”: Rwandans marked 30 years since a genocide there killed around 800,000 people.

A British endurance athlete known as the Hardest Geezer ran the length of Africa in just under a year , The Guardian reports.

Trump has made many populist promises, but many corporate executives believe that his second-term agenda couldn’t really happen . They might be in denial.

Trump said at a fund-raiser that he wants immigrants in the U.S. from “nice” countries “like Denmark.”

An examination of Trump’s public statements revealed how he distorts his opponents’ record and exaggerates.

Many of today’s seniors have voted Democratic at every stage of their lives. Nate Cohn explains why .

A bipartisan group of former national security officials have asked lawmakers to impose limits on a president’s power to deploy troops on domestic soil .

Other Big Stories

The U.S. will experience its second total solar eclipse in seven years today. Read how to watch and see the cloud forecast where you are .

In coastal cities, commuters — spurred by new routes and faster boats — are using ferries to get around .

A Southwest Boeing 737-800 made an emergency landing after an engine cover fell off during takeoff.

Maryland passed two privacy bills that limit how tech platforms can harvest and use personal data of consumers and young people.

Economists sent similar résumés to job postings at about 100 of the largest U.S. companies — but changed the applicants’ names to suggest an ethnicity. Some companies discriminated against Black applicants much more than others.

America was once the country begging richer allies for help. It can pay it back by supporting Ukraine , Stacy Schiff writes.

If Gmail is making you miserable, stop using it , as Ezra Klein has.

Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss the election and tech regulation .

Here are columns by David French on the parallels between Gaza and Iraq and Maureen Dowd on Trump’s “blood bath” comments .

MORNING READS

Away games: Meet a group of New Yorkers who pooled money to buy a Danish minor league soccer team .

Health tech: Patients can pay to have artificial intelligence read their mammograms. Experts are both excited and concerned .

Metropolitan Diary: Best taxi ride in 50 years .

Lives Lived: Albert Heath was a virtuoso jazz drummer who collaborated with John Coltrane and Nina Simone. He died at 88 .

Women’s college basketball: South Carolina beat Iowa , 87-75, to win their second national title in three years. Iowa’s defeat comes days before Caitlin Clark is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the W.N.B.A. Draft.

A G.O.A.T.: Dawn Staley, South Carolina’s coach, thanked Clark for making women’s basketball more popular. “ She carried a heavy load ,” Staley said. Read about Clark’s collegiate career .

Men’s college basketball: John Calipari is nearing a deal to coach at Arkansas .

UConn: The Huskies face Zach Edey and Purdue with a chance to become the first repeat men’s college basketball national champions since Florida in 2006 and 2007.

ARTS AND IDEAS

“University Challenge”: The New Yorker Brandon Blackwell knew that if he wanted to have a career in competitive quizzing, he had to move to its epicenter: London.

Despite already having a degree, he applied to Imperial College London to get a visa. Then, he competed for the college on the Britain’s premier quiz show, “University Challenge.” Blackwell’s appearance on the show in 2020 turned him into a national figure and Imperial — which had not won the competition since 2001 — into a “University Challenge” powerhouse .

More on culture

The “3 Body Problem,” a Netflix show, has outraged people in China despite it being from the country. That highlights how censorship has shaped public opinion , Li Yuan writes.

For nearly two decades, a gang stole items from small U.S. museums , including Yogi Berra’s championship rings.

In the finale of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David essentially restaged the contentious “Seinfeld” ending, The Washington Post reports.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Finish any blend of cheese in your fridge with this quick stovetop mac and cheese .

Trick your brain to love running with these three tips .

Buy a gift for under $25 .

Keep your dog warm and dry on rainy days with a raincoat .

Take our news quiz .

Here is today’s Spelling Bee . Yesterday’s pangrams were curtain and taciturn .

And here are today’s Mini Crossword , Wordle , Sudoku , Connections and Strands .

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox . Reach our team at [email protected] .

David Leonhardt runs The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has been an economics columnist, opinion columnist, head of the Washington bureau and founding editor of the Upshot section, among other roles. More about David Leonhardt

The SAT is coming back at some colleges. It’s stressing everyone out.

A patchwork of admissions test policies is wreaking havoc on students, parents and college admissions consultants.

A California mother drove 80 miles this month to find an SAT testing center with an open seat where her high school junior could take the exam. During college tours this spring, a teen recalled hearing some would-be applicants groan when admissions staffers announced they could not guarantee test-optional policies would continue.

And across the country, college counselors are fielding questions from teenagers alarmed, encouraged or simply confused by what seems like the return of the standardized test in admissions — maybe? Sort of? In some places, but not in others?

“You could be expecting and preparing for a certain way to apply to a college and present yourself — but then they change it mid-application process,” said Kai Talbert, a 17-year-old high school junior in Pennsylvania. “That’s really confusing. It can set back a lot of people.”

Colleges nationwide have been updating their coronavirus-era policies on standardized testing, which many dropped when the pandemic shut down in-person testing centers. Some of the most selective schools are declaring they will require tests again — including, across the last two months, Dartmouth College and Yale and Brown universities. Others, such as the University of Chicago and Columbia University, won’t. And still others have not yet picked a permanent policy: Princeton, Stanford, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania have said they will remain test-optional for another year or two, and Harvard University plans to keep its test-optional policy at least through the 2025-26 application cycle.

Public universities have veered in different directions, too: The University of Tennessee system requires tests. The University of Michigan will be test-optional. The University of California system is test-blind, meaning schools refuse to consider SAT or ACT scores for admissions.

The patchwork of policies is wreaking havoc on applicants, parents and college admissions consultants nationwide, who are being forced to recalculate where and how they are willing to apply — or what to tell anxious teenagers about whether to test, retest or skip testing entirely — as decisions keep rolling out in real time.

Laurie Kopp Weingarten, founder of One-Stop College Counseling in New Jersey, said she has a new response whenever a student gives her a list of their school targets. She starts by going down the list, school by school, to review each institution’s testing rules and whether those seem likely to change.

Taking a breath, Weingarten rattled off a summary of the different testing requirements in place at every Ivy League school. It took her three minutes.

“Even just saying it, it sounds like insanity to me, and then we’re expecting kids to understand this?” Weingarten said. “Colleges should really analyze the data, come up with a decision and stop changing their mind.”

The shifting testing expectations are among many changes roiling college admissions this year. Colleges are still grappling with the fallout from the landmark Supreme Court ruling that ended the use of race-based affirmative action in admissions. Many are undertaking an array of experiments in response to the decision in a bid to maintain diverse admitted classes — ending legacy preferences in some cases, adding essay prompts on adversity or identity in others, or increasing outreach in low-income areas.

And the disastrous rollout of a federal financial aid form that was supposed to simplify the notoriously difficult process has left students, parents and schools scrambling .

This is the most hectic and distressing admissions cycle in recent memory, said Jennifer Nuechterlein, a college and career counselor at a New Jersey high school. She laid special blame on schools that reinstated testing mandates in the past two months, some of which affect the high school juniors who will begin applying in the fall. This class of teens will have to take the SAT or ACT, should they decide to do so, within the next six months.

“Students can’t just test overnight,” Nuechterlein said. “There are students who want to prep, there are students who are not math- or English-ready. ... Students are going to be unprepared.”

For the most ambitious, high-achieving students, the tests are another stressful hurdle to clear as they apply to the most selective colleges. And for many other students, the test scores — even if not required for admission — are mandatory if they want to qualify for some financial aid programs or, on some campuses, certain degree programs.

Critics of standardized tests have argued that they mirror, or exacerbate, societal inequities, in part because students from unstable homes or with limited resources cannot afford SAT or ACT tutors or testing preparation classes, or may not know of free resources such as Khan Academy . Even before the pandemic, some schools had moved to make the scores optional to avoid creating another barrier for students.

Then the pandemic hit, spurring a crisis response when students literally could not access spaces in which to take standardized tests, said Dominique J. Baker, a University of Delaware associate professor of education and public policy who studies admissions policies.

“There were a number of institutions that never would have chosen to have gone test-optional except the pandemic made them,” she said. “Those institutions, by and large, are going back to requiring test scores.”

MIT, Georgetown University and the University of Florida are among schools that quickly chose to reinstate the requirements, with MIT announcing the change in 2022. Many others have spent the years since the virus arrived studying what effect going test-optional had on their admitted classes.

At Brown, Yale and Dartmouth, officials said they had found something surprising: Considering test scores would help them identify more promising applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, not fewer. After looking at their own data, leaders at the three Ivy League schools say they concluded that SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of students’ academic performance in college, more so than high school grades. They also found that some less-advantaged students withheld their scores when sharing them would have boosted their chances.

Depriving admissions officers of SAT and ACT scores meant they were less able to evaluate an applicant’s chances of thriving at Brown, Provost Francis J. Doyle III said in an interview this month .

“Our analysis suggested our admissions could be more effective if we brought back testing as an instrument,” Doyle said.

The University of Texas at Austin is also choosing to require testing again, the school announced earlier this month. Jay Hartzell, the school’s president, said he and others worried the cost and preparation associated with the tests could keep students from applying. But about 90 percent of UT Austin applicants in the latest round took the SAT even though it was optional, Hartzell said. And the school found that students who declined to submit scores were less successful once enrolled.

John Friedman, a professor of economics and international and public affairs at Brown, said he wouldn’t be surprised if more of those highly selective schools reinstate a testing requirement. He was one of the authors of the study from Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit at Harvard University, on standardized test scores and student performance at a dozen “Ivy-plus” universities.

“It’s not just about the test scores being a good predictor,” he said. “We show in the paper that students who attend a school, having been admitted without a test score, perform at the bottom of the distribution.” He said schools should look at their own data to determine their policy.

Nonetheless, most schools nationwide will probably remain test-optional, predicted Angel Pérez, the chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. For many institutions, he said, the policy has been a huge success, bumping up the number of applicants and diversifying admitted classes.

He added that most American high-schoolers are applying to schools that admit nearly all applicants, to public schools or to colleges close to home, he said: “So the majority of students aren’t going to be impacted.”

Morehouse College is among those maintaining a test-optional policy, which the historically Black college adopted in 2020. Since going test-optional, Morehouse has seen an increased number of applicants and an increased acceptance rate from admitted students, said Michael Gumm, Morehouse’s director of admissions and recruitment.

The majority of Morehouse applicants choose not to submit scores, Gumm said, and more students are completing their applications than in the past. He said Morehouse is looking for leaders, so essays and letters of recommendation carry a lot of weight.

Gumm said he often preaches to students: “Your test scores do not make you who you are.”

But for some students, the tests remain a priority. Alina Bunch, a 16-year-old high school junior in Texas, said that even when she saw schools dropping test requirements, she never altered her plan to take the ACT. The exam, she says, is a way to demonstrate determination and academic rigor.

She thinks it’s generally a good thing that schools are bringing back testing requirements, because they can function as a mechanism of standardization in a sometimes subjective admissions process. She does fear the effects of reinstating test requirements for students who cannot afford tutoring.

But for herself — after taking a summer course to prepare for the ACT and scoring high on the exam — she has no real worries. “It was never a question for me, of whether I should do it or not,” Alina said.

Many students pursued similar strategies, continuing to take standardized tests throughout the test-optional trend. After a dramatic drop in 2020 spurred by the sudden closure of test sites, the number of students taking the SAT nationally has risen every year since, per the College Board, and reached 1.9 million for the class of 2023. That’s about 300,000 short of the last pre-pandemic total, when 2.2 million members of the class of 2019 sat for the exam — the largest-ever group to do so.

Joan Koven, who heads college consulting company Academic Access in Pennsylvania, said she never expected standardized testing to suffer a real drop in popularity.

“The ACTs and the SATs are Burger King and McDonald’s,” she said. “They’re not going away.”

But in some places, counselors wish they would. Priscilla Grijalva, a high school counselor in California’s San Jacinto Unified School District, said the elimination of test requirements in the UC system and California State University campuses was a godsend for the nearly 300 students she works with every year, a mix of White, Black and Latino teens, most of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

In the past, many of her students applied only to community colleges. But now she has seen a sharp rise in those willing to aim for state universities.

“It has changed our students’ mindsets,” Grijalva said. “Now it’s like, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ They’re more confident in their leadership and their grades.”

But the flurry of recent announcements from schools altering their testing rules has proved alarming, she said. Her students “do feel the pressure coming back,” she said. “They’re starting to talk.”

Claire Elkin, 16, overheard some of this nervous chatter when she was touring colleges this spring with her family — making visits to places including the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At every school, recalled Claire, who took the ACT and intends to submit her scores, admissions tour leaders said something like: “Yeah, we’re test-optional now, but we can’t guarantee anything for you.”

Every time, the crowds of hopefuls around Claire broke into murmurs that ranged from anguished to angry, she said. She remembered one family whose daughters seemed especially upset, spurring the mother to jump into emergency action trying to calm the girls as the admissions presentation continued.

“A lot of kids my age can’t set a path right now for what they should be prioritizing when they’re applying for schools,” Claire said. “So there is definitely more panic.”

An earlier version of this article included incorrect information about the rise in the number of students who have taken the SAT since a drop sparked by the pandemic. The number of students taking the test reached 1.9 million for the class of 2023, about 300,000 fewer than for the class of 2019. The article has been corrected.

Community college or a four-year school? What to know about the advantages – and differences.

Spring marks the moment when high school students across the country are making choices about their future, whether that’s enrolling in a four-year college or university, entering the workforce or some combination of pathways.  

Many students will choose to enroll in community colleges. Soon after the pandemic began, community college enrollment sunk in many places, and the number of recent high school grads enrolling took the biggest dip.About 5.7 million students were enrolled in community colleges in fall 2021, according to the Community College Research Center.  Still, thataccounted for more than a third ofundergraduate enrollment at the time. 

But not all community college students are recent high school graduates. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal told USA TODAY thatcommunity colleges are “really versatile institutions that are open to everyone and create a lot of opportunities and choices for people.”  

So, what is a community college? What are the benefits – and limitations – of attending the institutions? Here’s what you need to know.  

Education: Women account for two-thirds of US student loan debt. Here's how it affects them.

Biden administration: Education Department acts to advance transgender, nonbinary inclusion in youth sports

Is it better to go to a community college?

A key difference between community colleges and four-year institutions is the type of degrees and credentials offered, said Laura Perna, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of education.  

“So community colleges tend to offer associate’s degrees, as well as a host of different certificate programs, and programs that are oriented to the workforce,” she said. And they provide classes students can use to transfer to a four-year colleges. 

Community colleges also offer education and training needed by companies and groups in the area, Perna noted. They may also offer classes to accommodate parents, people with full-time jobs and others. 

Universities may cost significantly more than community colleges, and students may face taking out significant student loans . However, four-year colleges and universities can also offer different kinds of opportunities for students, such as major athletics programs, additional social environments and more.  

Many colleges raised tuition for low-income students: Why did wealthier peers get more aid?

Martha Parham, senior vice president of public relations at the American Association of Community Colleges, said the institutions also serve students in career and technical education programs.

"So everything from nursing and first responder training, allied health training to electrical linemen, commercial driver's license, slot machine repair technicians, really in programs that are shorter term, credentialing programs that are by design meant for learners that are looking to quickly get into a job market," she said. 

Hiring boom: A two-year degree lands a green energy job that pays 'a pretty penny'

How do community colleges and universities differ?

Though some community colleges are able to offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees , if you attend a community college, it's likely you'll have to transfer elsewhere to earn a bachelor's degree or beyond. 

And if you’re thinking about starting a bachelor's degree at a community college, it's possible,but community college students can face unique challenges.

Approximately four out of five students who start at a community college say they plan to seek a bachelor’s degree, but only about one in six actually accomplish that goal, The Hechinger Report  reported .  Two-year community colleges have the lowest completion rates of anyhigher education institution.  

One note of caution: Not all credits earned at a community college will automatically transfer to the college or university you’re hoping to attend.  

Perna warned that this “could have real costs for students.” 

If “you’re not able to get academic credit for that course that you took at the community college, you've lost the time that you spent taking that course. You've lost the money that you've used to pay for that course,” she said.  

Parham advised that "if students are looking to transfer or looking to attend a university, it is really important " that they talk to the community college and four-year institutionthey are considering to understand the transfer pathway so that they are set up for success at the community college. 

"Many colleges have invested in increased academic advising, so the students have a place to go and ask questions and best determine how they can get from their point A to point B," she added. 

'Free' college isn't enough: Adults struggle to finish degrees, even with financial aid.

What happened to Biden's free college plan:  Cutting cost of higher ed out of feds' reach

How much does community college cost?

Community college isn’t automatically free – though some states have programs that sharply cut community college costs  – but the sticker price for community colleges is typically less than four-year colleges and universities. 

For the 2022-23 school year, the average published fees and tuition for a full-time student at a public two-year institution was $3,860, compared with $10,940 at a public four-year college.

Free college or federal student loans?  These alternatives could help solve student debt crisis

That doesn’t mean community college students don’t still face major financial challenges. A survey of over 80,000 community college students published last year found that a third of respondents said they struggled to get enough food to eat within the last month. The same survey found that about a quarter of students who had to pay rent struggled at least once in the last year to cover their housing.  

Kvaal said educational institutions in the U.S. “need to help students with a range of challenges and not focus on just one.”  

Eat or pay tuition?  Many community college students are forced to choose. But colleges can help.

“Students need financial aid to pay their tuition and their living expenses, transportation and books. We're working hard to make sure that students have the support they need to support their families, childcare, housing, nutrition assistance,” he said. 

President Joe Biden has had his sights set on free community college for students. Though it has been  cut from previous legislation, it was part of his 2024 fiscal year budget proposal to Congress.  

More coverage from USA TODAY

• 'The bottom fell out’: For years, Latino college enrollment was on the rise. Then came the pandemic.
• Student loan forgiveness: When will student loan payments resume? A new lawsuit aims to lift the payment pause
• Cutting college costs: California helps college students cut their debt by paying them to help their communities
• Access to education: Many rural and small town students skip college or go local. A new effort aims to change that
• Diversity, equity and inclusion: Schools' mission statements tend to be the same. Except when it comes to diversity, equity

Contributing: Chris Quintana, USA TODAY 

USA-Canada hockey 1998 Olympic final helped lift women's sports to new heights today

Women's sports continues to grow in popularity, not just with the record television ratings during the NCAA women's basketball tournament, but with the Professional Women's Hockey League. The six-team league began play in January, with a stop at Little Caesars Arena last month. With that in mind, we look at one of the seminal moments in women's hockey history, chronicled in the book, "A Miracle of Their Own," written by former Free Press sports writer Keith Gave . The book looks at the 1998 win by USA Hockey's women's team in the Nagano Olympics over Canada, the impetus of one of the top rivalries in all of sports.

For many years after Team USA’s upset of Canada at the inaugural women’s Olympic ice hockey tournament in Nagano, some members on the wrong side of that outcome tended to downplay their silver medals. Rather, they were prone to say, “We lost the gold.” Because their mindset going into the Games was that winning anything by gold was unimaginable.

Then it happened, and the repercussions on the other side of their border were stunning.

Suddenly, young American girls in record numbers were trading in their figure skates for hockey skates. The numbers of girls competing in youth leagues skyrocketed. In 1990, when some of members of that 1998 team were young girls beginning their hockey careers playing with and against boys because that was their only opportunity to play, there were fewer than 7,000 registered female ice hockey players in the United States, according to USA Hockey. By the time the American women won their second Olympic gold in 2018, there were nearly 80,000 females registered to play hockey in the United States — included the 23 women who struck gold in Pyeonchang.

Until she was seven years old, Kendall Coyne didn’t know another girl who played hockey. But in the summer of 1998, when she attended Cammi Granato’s hockey camp in suburban Chicago, she met 100 other girls who shared her passion for the sport. Coyne, now Kendall Coyne-Schofield, recalled for an interviewer how excited she was to go back to school that fall and tell all her doubting friends that “girls really do play hockey. That moment at camp fueled me to do something that would changed my life forever — play in college, represent Team USA and play in the Olympics.”

Further west in North Dakota, the Lamoureux twins, Jocelyne and Monique, were similarly inspired. They were eight years old when the American women won in Nagano. It ignited their dream that materialized in essays they wrote for school about playing in the Olympics one day.

“Without that gold medal, without that team, there is no way women’s hockey would be where it is today,” Jocelyne (now Lamoureux-Davidson) said.

Twenty years later, Monique (now Lamoureux-Morando) scored a goal that would force overtime in the gold medal game with Canada. And Jocelyne scored the decisive goal in a shootout that gave the Americans their second Olympic gold medal.

That 1998 team wound up on the cover of a Wheaties box — Breakfast of Champions, eh? — and various team members made appearances on many of the national TV talk shows. ... Most of them attended school assemblies, their shimmering gold medals inspiring both girls and boys.

American colleges and universities took note — everywhere, it seemed, except in Michigan. In 1998, there were just 14 NCAA Division I teams, and the University of Minnesota was the only one west of New York State. Most of them were in New England. But the women’s game was still two years away from becoming an NCAA championship sport.

By the 2019-20 season, there were 41 teams eligible for the NCAA championships — 36 of them west of New York. One of them was the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where Canada’s Olympic coach Shannon Miller exiled herself after the Nagano Games. She started a program from scratch, and she wasn’t the only Canadian to take advantage of the growth of the sport in the United States.

American college and university athletic programs are celebrated for developing elite athletes who often graduate — degree or not — into the professional ranks of their sports. So it is in women’s hockey. In 1998, only four women on Team Canada’s roster had experience with a U.S. college hockey program. In 2018, 21 of Canada’s 23 players had competed for an American college or university. In 2022, only one of 23 women on Canada’s Gold Medal Olympic roster didn’t spend some formative time in the United States.

To describe the rivalry between the hockey-playing women of the United States and Canada as the greatest rivalry in team sports may sound like an exaggeration. It is not. While the rivalry can burn hot — and hotter — anyone who suggests that it is fueled by hatred would be guilty of hyperbole.

Certainly, there have been moments of contention between individual combatants that resulted in headlines blown way out of proportion, as it happened during that 14-game run-up to the gold medal game in Nagano. Familiarity does breed a certain disdain that threatens good sportsmanship. But that’s sports. As American coach Ben Smith was fond of saying, on good days the competition was spirited. On bad days, it could be downright ugly.

But for the better part of more than three decades, players on both sides generally prefer to say that while they might abhor the competition, they admire and respect — and sometimes even love — the individual players on the opposing team because they raise the level of play on both sides. Twist their arms just a bit, and they’re virtually unanimous in suggesting they wished every game they played was against their archrival.

For the Canadian women, losing the gold medal game in Nagano was beyond devastating. “I just remember feeling as if we’d let people down, that we’d let our country down,” Jayna Hefford told Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic, in an interview prior to her induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 . “I remember in the dressing room afterward, everyone was so unhappy and one of our trainers was trying to get the girls to take a picture with their medals on. She said, ‘I know you don’t want this now, but trust me, someday you’re going to look back and you’re going to want this picture.’”

Hefford remembers some talk about trying to see (please pardon the unintended pun) a silver lining in the loss, to appreciate the value of having the Americans win that first Olympic gold.

“People said, ‘well, it was probably the best thing that could happen for women’s hockey,’” Hefford told The Athletic, “because it helped grow the sport in the U.S.’

“Well, as a player on the losing team, that’s the last thing you’re worried about. But looking back, it was probably true. It helped grow the game, and it certainly did a lot for women’s hockey in the U.S.”